Why the New York Mets Almost Wore Pink & Black—Mystery Solved

A truly weird color scheme, it would have been unique in the history of American Professional sports. There seemed to be no reasonable explanation of why a new Major League Baseball team in 1962 would opt for that particular pallete.

I’ve found the reason, and it makes total and complete sense:

Joan Whitney Payson—the club’ s first majority stockholder—was born into great wealth. She inherited millions of dollars upon the death of her father Payne Whitney in 1927, along with the famed Greentree Stables. The stable’s silks featured salmon pink and black striped sleeves with a black cap, and were designed by Mrs. Payson’s mother, Helen, after a favorite tea dress.

With this information in hand, it now seems obvious why Mrs. Payson—known throughout her life for being superstitious—would want to carry forth the family’s aesthetic traditions when forming the expansion Mets.

Given no colors were specified for the contest, why not try to curry favor with the deciders by using what must have been their lucky colors. The Sporting News author gave good advice. I still don’t think there was any chance of those colors making it to a baseball diamond in 1962.

Fascinating. I wonder if I would have become a Mets fan in the same way if their uniforms looked so different. Probably, but one never knows….

While a pink and black color scheme would certainly have been unprecedented, it has appeared in American sports at least once since–provided your definition of “American sports” includes minor league Canadian hockey. The Calgary Hitmen have often used the colors of their owner, professional wrestling legend Bret “The Hit Man” Hart. http://content.sportslogos.net/logos/11/439/full/bqhstrcd3zr9ew4rswkdihurg.gif

While I don’t doubt that the pink and black color scheme was a brief notion Joan Payson had, I seriously doubt the color scheme was ever seriously considered. My family knew the Paysons, went to Mets games w them, and while I heard many an astonding story about the becoming of the franchise, there was nothing ever uttered about pink and black being seriously considered as a color scheme. It was blue as a nod to the Dodgers and orange as a nod to the Giants. Now if there were any uni or logo prototypes mocked up w those colors then I might believe there was a credible chance they were considered.